Conger is a career criminal facing a long prison stay for poaching, who is recruited by officials of some depraved future to assassinate an enemy of the state.

The bizarre near future setting is only lightly touched upon. The crux of the story is the relationship between church, state, science and the social misfit, with a novel take on murder.

The first reading below is my preferred version, by one of my favorite readers, Phil Chenevert